On Sep. 11, 2001, the World trade center in New York, N.Y. became the object of a terrorist attack of previously unimaginable proportions. The terrorist attack utilized a simple scheme of misdirecting commercial aircraft such that the aircraft struck the twin towers of the world trade center destroying both buildings, surrounding buildings, and the aircraft themselves. The exact death toll of the attack is not currently known and may never be precisely determined due the degree of disintegration of the planes, buildings, and victims. However, it is known that at least several thousand innocent people, both passengers of the misdirected airplanes as well as occupants of the targeted building, were killed.
The financial impact of such attacks, while easily ignored in light of the great loss of life, are staggering. The sources of such loss are the material loss of structures and equipment likely to be borne by insurers, the loss of business revenue for businesses located in the affected area, the national economic inefficiencies caused as people nationwide are distracted and frightened by the attack, and the loss of revenue to airlines as frightened passengers turn to other modes of travel. There will also be litigation-related losses as affected individuals and organizations seek redress for a perceived wrongful loss of life, property, or revenue.
Simply put, this new form of attack greatly raises the potential human and economic loss that may be caused by terrorist organizations. There are many ways to attempt to minimize the casualties of such attacks. Some current efforts focus on minimizing the volume and flammability of the jet fuel that is often violently released and dispersed in collisions involving one or more aircraft. Other efforts are directed at security precautions to prevent in the first instance the introduction of weapons or explosives onto an aircraft.
Neither of these solutions is optimal, for the first fails to save the aircraft passengers themselves, while the second cannot be completely successful at detecting and stopping the passage of all weapons without great expense of time and money, and additionally fails to deter terrorist attacks carried out by purely physical strength against weaker passengers and aircraft personnel.
Other methods and systems of deterring hijacking of aircraft have been devised and attempted with varying degrees of success, but as the attack of September 11 shows, none have attained complete success.